Guild Wars 2

Mike O Brien.4613:

Full story episodes have a long lead-time. But I don’t think LW content has to be all about the episodes.

This is the best thing to hear. Please, whether it is this group of people who worked on the fantastic Legendary collections or some other devs, have some people work on altering the current map events.

It would be absolutely awesome to have new events and updates to them. In between these larger quarterly updates it would be so nice to see patch notes that surprise us with something like one of the older zones getting an event mix-up and an achievement category (Especially since HoT added some nice QoL with the events/achievement tracking, etc that should really be incorporated into the whole game eventually).

Not every map needs masks/badges/coins to hunt for, and I don’t think anyone would want that on every map, but some amount of achievements/collections associated with them would be awesome (And, again, like in HoT maps – Seeing the events we have/haven’t completed would be great) and having new events to experience and drive players to new/different parts of each map would be a nice change of pace.

I am certainly bummed to hear about the rest of the Legendaries being shelved but I think more frequently adding quest-like collections or zone updates on a frequent basis is more important long term and I hope this move can get that aspect back on track.

Pay to Win? Gem store sells stat-less Skins, not equippable items, and largely back pieces or all-in-one Outfits. Yes, we need more stat-sets in game and more armor/weapon skins obtainable in game. That said, if you miss a neat looking item that you wanted then wait for it to go back on sale as a lot of the stuff does. And if it doesnt go back in the gem store, just remember to breathe and keep an eye out for another cool looking item?

March 10, 2013. Awkward brown bear.

phys.7689:

you missed my point.
you only want to call something a feature if people are going to like it. Its bad marketing to do otherwise.

camcallahan.7035:

We can safely assume any update of any size the devs do because it is a “good thing” in their eyes so I have no idea what you mean.

How about we stipulate that devs talking excitedly about this update and doing nearly ten hours of live streams about it, plus their general passion to create a game they want others to enjoy, means they have a good level of confidence in this update (regardless of player response after the fact).

Anyway, I’m quite excited for Tuesday. Aside for a few clearly wonky changes, I can’t wait to start trying out the new skills and spec system.

phys.7689:

not really
many changes are because they feel they are necessary for the future of the game.

this is one of those things,
the primary reason for the change is to make a system that is more easily expandable for specializations, and to make it easier for them to balance.

on day one, most players, many of whom barely visit the forums, and dont really understand things till they see them themselves, will be faced with all their traits gone, many of them changed, a whole new system, its likely some may have to go out and get skill points.

in the long run, it may be usefull, but for awhile? i predict a lot of growing pains and uncomfortability.

for mant people change is not so good.

if im wrong im fine with that, but this is my prediction

All I asked was if the devs had a reason for not advertising it as a Feature Pack, with all last week being filled with blog posts about all of the changes. I wondered this simply because of the size and scope of the update and how they used that term in the past with updates of similar size and scope. It’s ultimately not an important distinction, I was only curious.

The reception of the update or anyones personal feelings towards it are irrelevant to this specific question.

phys.7689:

because this change could go very poorly with players for awhile. advertising it as a good thing and it turning up bad is no good.

We can safely assume any update of any size the devs do because it is a “good thing” in their eyes so I have no idea what you mean.

Complete trait rework, a lot of UI changes, various currency reworks, skill/profession/stat changes, ascended armor/weapon recipes, condition changes PLUS new Lions Arch and who knows what else. Blog posts related to this update have sort of been mixed in with posts about stuff not coming out until Heart of Thorns (and in some cases it is unclear when certain things will be introduced), and it just seems odd it will include so many large changes but won’t be referred to as a Feature Pack like previously.

I have a question for devs:

Is there a reason this impressively massive update wasn’t presented to us as being a new Feature Pack?

Very interesting chart. The most interesting part, I think, is the approximate employee count.

They say “currently there will be only two guild halls” and, unfortunately, we can’t be blamed for assuming that won’t change for a good while. Why isn’t there a small guild hall team that just designs new guild halls and every 3-4 months we get a mail in-game from the guild hall organization saying they found a location in shiverpeaks/ascalon/orr/kryta that might be suitable for claiming if a guild wants it?

The things we have been shown about Heart of Thorns, I would say, seem very, very awesome and the rework of traits and skill systems do seem like they can introduce new sets of them into the game a lot better. I actually can see maybe something like a Mawdrey-esque quest being introduced that upon completion grants a new Profession Track to put hero points into, either new core skills or unlocking an Elite Spec (kitten, they could add a series region specific quests/collections that reward you with hero points and a new Racial Track to put points into). Much better than when they added that 25 point heal skill that old characters bought because they 25 skill points was nothing and new characters couldnt afford. But will they utilize stuff like this? When they say that these new systems allow for them to expand it in a more logical and easier way than before, does that mean they are already brainstorming practical ways to expand or will we get two new skills over the next two years and thats it?

I’ve decided to not pre-purchase like I was going to until I get a better idea of the PvE zones. I’m certain I will buy it because I know I will enjoy it but I want a clearer view of the additional maps involved and a better understanding of the potential future the devs see.

So, I think it was stated that each profession will have five Core Specializations to choose from, but then in the second post we get a very awesome looking screenshot of a new interface that lists all the reward tracks for the Ele profession. There are a lot more than five reward tracks, and the one on the screen seems to only have 3 traits able to be unlocked through that reward track. How do the Profession Reward Tracks and Specializations relate to each other?

To get access to every trait in the water magic spec, for example, do you potentially have to finish multiple Reward Tracks?

Are all of the skills/traits tied to Core Specs always available, or does not speccing into Water Magic prevent you from taking advantage of it beyond no access to the related traits, like attuning to it or using a utility skill that might be attached to it?